Scottish Studies (E-Journal)
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‘Griogal Cridhe’ Aspects of Transmission in the Lament for Griogair Ruadh Mac Griogair of Glen Strae
No full textWith the advent of Tobar an Dualchais (www.tobarandualchais.co.uk), the online trove of materials recorded from oral tradition during the last century and held by the National Trust for Scotland, the BBC, and the sound archive of the School of Scottish Studies, it has become easier to integrate study of published and manuscript versions of traditional materials – most of which date from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries – with more recent orally-transmitted versions of the same materials. Such study has the potential to help us understand the workings of oral transmission over time, to evaluate the printed and manuscript sources of an earlier day, and to understand the complex inter-relationship between written and orally-transmitted traditional materials in the Gàidhealtachd itself
Am Buadhfhacal Meadhan-Aoiseach Meranach agus mearan, mearanach, dàsachdach, dàsan(n)ach na Gàidhlig
No full textThe epithet meranach is found in Irish sources from the eleventh century. The same element may be present in the Irish surname Merna(gh) and perhaps also in the early thirteenth-century Scottish epithet Marrenah. It is suggested that the underlying element is meránach (‘delirious, mad, insane’), which survives in Scottish Gaelic mearan(ach). The rich variety of forms which survive (or survived until recently) in Scotland are discussed. Parallels are drawn with the use of dásachtach as an epithet of the Scottish king Domnall mac Causaintín (†900AD) and the survival of dàsanach, dàsannach and related forms in Scottish Gaelic. These epithets may in origin have referred to the persons classified as mer and dásachtach in early Gaelic law. The epithet méránach / méranach from mér (‘finger’) is also considered in the context of the name Gofraidh Crovan / Gofraidh Mérach; the epithet Crovan is explained as deriving from crobh+án rather than crobh+bhán as has been previously suggested
‘Recorded by the School of Scottish Studies…’ The Impact of the Tape-Recorder In a Rural Community
No full text‘Recorded by the School of Scottish Studies…’ The Impact of the Tape-Recorder In a Rural Community Most people in Scotland interested in traditional songs and stories will have heard the phrase ‘they were recorded by the School of Scottish Studies’. From 1951, when the School was founded, those whose songs, stories and oral traditions were of interest to collectors and research staff enjoyed the prestige of having their names linked with what has become our national collection. For many years, the fact that a singer or story-teller had been ‘recorded by the School of Scottish Studies’ would often form part of an introduction at a ceilidh or a concert
Clan Chief, Clan Embarrassment: The Seventeenth-Century Campbells
No full textThe following discussion explores the reciprocal relationships between Campbell chiefs and their kindreds during the particularly fraught era of the three Gilleasbuigs each of whom, disastrously for their clan, defied their Stewart kings, until a fourth, the tenth earl, became first Duke of Argyll in 1703
Yeatsian Shades In Ó Direáin and Macgill-Eain
No full textMichael Hartnett’s grandiloquent valediction ‘A Farewell to English’, first delivered from the stage of the Peacock Theatre in Dublin in 1974, announced the thirty-three year-old poet’s decision to cease publishing in his native English, the language in which he had already earned a considerable reputation, in order to devote himself henceforth to poetry in Irish
‘The Disembowelled Horse’ A Place-Name Tale From Gaelic Oral Tradition
No full textThe recording of traditional information by the School of Scottish Studies, at least in the Gaelic speaking area, was at its height in the 1960s and 1970s. This was the period when funds for field collection were relatively available, while there were still many native bearers of tradition who were willing to impart important amounts of precious material. Nevertheless, it was becoming increasingly obvious that the Gaelic mainland was losing its native speakers rapidly and that collection there should be a priority. Their dispersed populations, from Kintyre to Sutherland, meant that the costs associated with fieldwork were rising, as these areas lacked the concentrated populations found in the Western Isles. A special effort was called for to overcome the difficulties.The recording of traditional information by the School of Scottish Studies, at least in the Gaelicspeaking area, was at its height in the 1960s and 1970s. This was the period when funds for field collection were relatively available, while there were still many native bearers of tradition who were willing to impart important amounts of precious material. Nevertheless, it was becoming increasingly obvious that the Gaelic mainland was losing its native speakers rapidly and that collection there should be a priority. Their dispersed populations, from Kintyre to Sutherland, meant that the costs associated with fieldwork were rising, as these areas lacked the concentrated populations found in the Western Isles. A special effort was called for to overcome the difficulties
